There’s a lot of heart in Ronin Island, and as Kanichi and Hana find their separate paths, the goals shift and change in a way that could very well put them at odds with each other. Hanichi and Hana are the same, but they have been taught that they are different. Both are fierce warriors, having just come of age, but because Hana is from a poor farmer’s family, and Kanichi is from a rich Samurai family, they are different. At least, this is what they’ve been told their entire lives, and as far as we can tell, it’s stuck.

Now, a new Shogunate are using rock monsters called Byonīn to bring the kingdom together. The new emperor is a loose cannon, but he’s founded an army, and he’s going to use it…for the sheer enjoyment of it, it would seem.

In this issue, we spend some time in Kanichi's and Hana’s past as children, showing those defining moments, and now, having gone their separate ways, those elements from their childhood are informing who they are going to become. Hana has ended up with the Shogunate, and Kanichi has been left at the hands of a group of marauders. Both want to protect the village, but both have different ways of going about it.

Greg Pak has created morally complex characters which have brought this series to life in ways that I wasn’t expecting. Milonogiannis’ artwork is really beautiful, especially when paired with Kniivila’s rich hues.

This story is tangible in so many ways: emotionally, intellectually, and morally. It also still packs the wallop of an enjoyable adventure.

I am in awe of Jeff Lemire. He has managed to take the heart and pulse of two very different comic book worlds and find their mutual centers. Everything is unexpected. I’m looking at characters in ways that I haven’t before, finding new ways to understand them and care about them. It is magical.

Essentially, a mysterious character has swapped the characters from Jeff Lemire’s world of Black Hammer with a handful of the heroes of the Justice League from DC Comics. The rules that you think exist in one world are now being broken apart, forcing the characters to deal with the same. It’s like taking something you’ve been looking at for hours and turning it ever so slightly so that suddenly you see exactly what you were looking for the entire time.

Not only is it enjoyable to watch these two universes fold together, but, like with the rest of the Black Hammer storyline, there are incredibly surprising emotional beats and just incredibly surprising story beats in general. One specific thing happens that makes you wonder if something else in the Black Hammer world happened as we all thought it did.

Gail’s and Weird’s story arcs are the highlights of the book, but now with Talkie Walkie coming into the mix, things are starting to look even more interesting.

I don’t know what else to say. This is the comic of the moment. It's the comic to read. This is truly something special.

Author and independent comic book creator Russell Nohelty is returning to the scene of the crime with Ichabod Jones: Monster Hunter #5. A continuation of the series that started it all for Nohelty, Ichabod Jones: Monster Hunter #5 also sees the return of original artist Renzo Podesta. Ichabod may be dead and buried, but, like many comic creators before them, Nohelty and Podesta refuse to let their hero rest in peace.

SPOILERS BELOW

Issue #5 opens at the titular character’s funeral. Having made a heroic sacrifice for those he called friends, it would appear that this is the end of the story, but, in the same spirit as the original Ichabod Jones, Nohelty’s script provides multiple new avenues for the story to continue down while leaving it to the reader to decide which reality is truly “real.”

While I don’t know that it was necessary for Ichabod Jones to continue on past its perceived conclusion, Nohelty and Podesta do an excellent job of making this next chapter feel like an organic extension of the original tale. Personally, I’ve always enjoyed stories that continue beyond a lead character’s death, depicting the fallout of that loss and what comes next, and while Ichabod Jones: Monster Hunter #5 doesn’t cover that exact territory, there’s an interestingly fresh and abnormal tone present that prompts one to re-engage with a story they may have considered finished previously.

While it’s not necessary to enjoy or understand the story of Ichabod Jones, Nohelty has been very open about his struggles with depression and anxiety and how they have inspired this tale of a broken man coming to terms with who he is and searching for his place in the world. The original Ichabod Jones: Monster Hunter was written (admittedly by Nohelty) when the author was in an incredibly dark place himself. While Nohelty may still have his demons, he’s mentioned via his Facebook page that he’s been in a much better place when approaching this volume, and that, in some ways, this new addition to Ichabod Jones is a way for him to reach out to his former self with a message of hope. Again, I don’t think this information in necessary to read Ichabod Jones: Monster Hunter, but I certainly think it adds additional layers to the story.

Podesta’s artwork is just as fantastic as usual. I’m always up for a new artist’s take on material, but Podesta’s style is so recognizable and appropriate for the Nohelty’s story that it’s hard to imagine any other artist fitting as perfectly. Podesta’s coloring in Ichabod Jones: Monster Hunter #5 is especially worthy of mention, as it conveys a dream-like sense of wandering into vastly different environments connected in illogical ways.

FINAL VERDICT: Ichabod Jones: Monster Hunter #5 is a triumphant return to form from the original creative team. Those who enjoyed the previous Ichabod Jones tale from Wannabe Press will not want to miss this continuation!

The Duff meets Dungeons & Dragons. Clueless meets Conan. Princess Diaries meets Percy Jackson. Sword and sorcery meets high school romance. Such are the appropriate descriptors for R. Litfin’s The Lost Noble, the first book in her Chronicles of Royal High series which combines elements of high fantasy with young adult sentiments.

The titular lost noble is Adella Everheart, the daughter of Rose and Orrick, a blacksmith who is trying to get over a broken heart after being dumped and publicly humiliated by Prince Brogan. Her world is turned upside down when Queen Cassandra of Adamaris arrives; Orrick is her son that she disowned because he fell in love with the peasant girl Rose. Cassandra is need of an heir to take over the throne of Adamaris, and she asks for Adella to assume the role.

And thus, Adella is swept up into the world of the royals and enrolls at Royal High, the institution that educates those of royalty to enter the adult world of ruling their kingdoms. A fish out of water, the peasant princess Adella is caught up in media attention, and her commoner background clashes with those of privilege. She quickly befriends students Vivian (whom she shares a room with), Katherine, Blake, and Jason and alchemy professor Bracke, while making enemies of Diamara, headmistress Von Derdenmyer and Professor Landin. There is, of course, the Brogan situation, as he too is enrolled at Royal High, causing Adella to sway between mixed emotions.

Adella’s peasant background provides her with a strong work ethic that the other students at Royal High seem to lack, as emphasis is placed on fashionable attire and making alliances with each other. An odd one out, Adella is able to win other students over, slowly at first by excelling in Bracke’s alchemy class, but in greater numbers later by participating in the school’s combat team; however, there are greater things going on just at the periphery, with rumored appearances of dragons, as well as a dark lord whose nefarious plans bookend The Lost Noble.

The Lost Noble is an incredibly fun read, with Litfin able to combine modern young adult sensibilities with high fantasy. For example, the characters speak in a common dialect, normal for modern-day teenagers. Yet, it doesn’t feel out of place or anachronistic, as the world in Chronicles of Royal High is peppered with contemporary references; characters use small pocket crystal balls as the proxy for mobile phones, giant mirrors act as televisions, and so on. It’s a strange mix of globalization and feudalism that work for the narrative. In fact, such a configuration invites readers to question bigger themes The Lost Noble only brushes on. For example, while The Lost Noble is firmly rooted in young adult romance and fantasy, with a take on class dynamics: the lower, peasant class (Adella) and the high class (everyone else at Royal High). It’s the equivalent of the cliquish popular rich girls in high school versus the unpopular kids, found in such films like Pretty in Pink. Yet, Adella herself comes from a family of privilege; she’s not part of the poor and destitute class after all. When it comes time for her to rule, will she be able to speak and identify with everyone? Or will it be restricted to her own privileges? Or perhaps she will give into the absolute rule that Royal High faculty advocate? What’s a teenage girl who has been thrust suddenly from one world into the next to do?

If there is a fault to found in The Lost Noble, it's the inconstant descriptors and adjective usage. Litfin mostly excels at describing her world, with excellent flourishes such as “The Autumn Tide’s dawn was brisk and misty, and the moon was beginning to disappear over the deep amethyst mountains on the horizon. The cloudy sky was periwinkle laced with hints of scarlet and amber.” This is both poetic and lovely and adds to the fantasy backdrop; however, Litfin sometimes errs on the side of more is more which causes instances of adjective over usage, such as her the description of Adella’s first meal at Royal High: “There was a bright tangy salad bursting with fresh garden fare, appetizers swimming in delicate juices and meaty bits, crispy roasted vegetables, and of course, the main dish, steaming hot, wrapped in bacon, topped with lemon slices and garnish.” While the meal is drowning in adjectives, a critical piece was forgotten: What exactly was the main dish Adella ate?

Unbalanced adjectives aside, The Lost Noble’s story is concrete. Adella is a likable character, coping with teenage drama that we’ve all encountered in our youth. She’s earnest and resourceful, and readers will root for her success as she parlays her way through high school politics, which, of course, will prepare her for real-world politics when she eventually takes the throne. The fantasy world of The Lost Noble is rife with possibilities, magic, and mystical creatures that were only scratched upon. With book two, The Chronicles of Royal High: Dragon’s Wrath, slated to be released this autumn, it will be exciting to see where Adella’s adventures take her next.

It's happened before. It will never happen again. So goes the final issue of the years-long epic, The Wicked + The Divine. After several years of exploring this world of gods, secrets, lies, and a weaving story, this beloved series is coming to a close. As someone who has followed this series since its first issue, this is a bittersweet moment for me. I've loved this series since issue #1 and have followed it through every twist, turn, and big reveal. While the contents of this issue are important, I think the bigger picture to look at here is the celebration of this crowing achievement of media, storytelling, and creativity.

Five years ago, the stalwart creative team of Jamie McKelvie and Kieron Gillen released the first issue of this series, and it was instantly a hit. The gorgeous visuals and the intriguing story brought hope and excitement to an already beloved group of artists. As time has passed, we've learned about the gods and their two-year journey, the encroachment of the Great Darkness, and all that these consequences entailed.

As we reached the end, we got a glimpse into the future of those who've made it through the long, painful, and difficult journey as they reach the end of their road and a celebration of one of their own. It's a beautiful moment for the characters we've seen for years - the same, but much different after their exploits and the years following. It is a fantastic end to a series, giving it a simplicity that is honestly quite a bit freeing, considering the complex and intricate story we've seen over the previous forty-four issues.

Gillen and McKelvie have been a preparing for a long time, and with each outing, they have proven to be a pair that work extremely well together. Gillen is an incredible storyteller, and McKelvie, along with colorist Matt Wilson, make a very, very pretty series. The art has always been gorgeous, and here, even in one of the series' calmest moments, there is a beauty to the work that has always been its trademark.

For years, I've touted this series as one of the best in comics, and now that opinion has to shift. It's gone from one of the best series currently running to one of the best modern-day, long-running series in recent memory. The culmination of this series will leave a hole in the comics world, but the omnibus will be breathtaking.

I could go on and on about this series, its highs and lows, the peril and beauty, and the twists and turns of this story. But the best way to prove the worth of this series is to just tell everyone to read it. It's a completed arc now, with a full story from beginning to end. From Lucy to Laura, everything is there. The story of the gods is complete. Though it's unlikely that you're reading this without knowing this series, if for some reason you are, stop and go read it. Find the collected volumes and read the one-shots. Bathe in the joy that is this series and be as blown away as many of us have been, especially now that the series is complete.

Thank you, Kieron, Jamie, Matt, and Clayton. Thank you to Stephanie Hans, Jordie Bellaire, and everyone else who has contributed to this book. It's been a good run. It's happened before, but never again. But it'll never be forgotten.

In Jason Aaron and Dennis Hallum’s Sea of Stars, gone is the cynicism and coldness of modern-day sci-fi that has ramped up ever since Ridley Scott’s Alien and Blade Runner. Instead, they’ve embraced that gee-whiz, sci-fi pep of the '50s and '60s. This is an adventure split in two.

What started out as a father-and-son trip across the galaxy - well, what started out as a father and son trying to reconnect after the death of their wife/mother, so the father forces the son to basically join him on a job hauling cargo like a trucker across the galaxy - has turned into a father and son separated by tens of millions of light years. With a little gumption and a whole lot of luck, the father Gil Starx is desperately trying to survive and get back to his son. The son Kaydn having no idea his father is alive, has repressed his feelings, befriended some strange space creatures, and discovered he has some incredible abilities that allow him to basically survive in space, and a whole lot more!

This comic is about the bond between a father and a son that fills me with joy to read.

As we move forward, the questions being asked are: Where does Kaydn get these incredible powers, and what will Gil put himself through to get back to Kaydn?

Despite the heavy promise of the story, the script is light and fun. Steven Green’s artwork captures that otherworldly sense of discovery. Rico Renzi’s color schemes present a universe brimming with color and life. It’s an adventure that I’ve looked forward to returning to the last couple months.

I always enjoy James Tynion IV’s work on popular series like Detective Comics and his other ventures over at DC, but where he truly excels to me as a writer - where his voice as a creator is amplified - is when he releases one of his horror or sci-fi series at BOOM! Studios. Memetic, Cognetic, and Eugenic took the sort of body horror aspects from David Cronenberg and spun some truly great, socially relevant horror stories. Something Is Killing the Children looks like it’s the next in this sort of socially aware horror series, and he doesn’t wait to get into it.

What starts out as a sleepover for a group of four boys and a late-night horror story told by James turns into a massacre. James wears a pair of glasses that obfuscates his eyes to the reader. This massacre puts James at the center of gossip, bullying, a police investigation, and in the crosshairs of a mysterious monster killer that wears a bandana around her face that has an Attack on Titan-like grin painted on it. She’s awesome. I don’t have a name for her yet, but she’s awesome. James’ first interaction with her comes with a keen visual eye from Werther Dell’edera, showing her height over James, her visual dominance. Somehow, her presence calms James. This confident figure gains his trust almost immediately.

This is a great first issue. Tynion’s storytelling, when he leaves a scene and enters a scene, pulls us along, as we dig deeper into the characters' emotional states. Dell’edera’s art is cinematically stunning, and Miquel Muerto’s colors set the tone for each sequence without losing the overall feeling of the book thus far. Issue one is absolutely worth checking out.

As the title of this issue alludes to oh-so subtly, this issue serves as a prelude to BOOM!’s first epic Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel crossover event: “Hellmouth.” After the relatively slow burn of the last arc (Xander almost turned into a soulless vampire, and Willow sacrificed a bit of her soul to prevent that, NBD.), this issue is laser-focused on its mission to get us to the Hellmouth.

David Lopez returns to full-time art duties on this issue, and his strengths remain the same: fun and expressive character work. While I do admire those strengths, I do wish that there were a bit more subtlety in some of the facial work. It’s not that Lopez is incapable of more subtle facial expressions; his work on Jenny’s face as she judges Giles’ inaction in a particularly tense moment in this issue is proof of this. On another note, I’m loving the design of Willow’s t-shirt in this issue. It's kind of on the nose, but it works. Raul Angulo’s colors are fantastic in this issue, whether it’s the trippy lights at the high school party or the rich tones of the Egyptian exhibit.

There’s plenty to love about Jordie Bellaire’s script in this issue. The meet-cute between Buffy and her masked acquaintance (I don’t think the identity is all that secret.) seems to be revisiting an iconic pairing with some new sensibilities. The interaction between Joyce, Eric, Giles, and Jenny is pretty adorable, and it’s nice to see the adults actually get a moment together in a very normal situation. Of course, “normal” doesn’t last long in the Buffyverse, and things go sideways really fast. Making a bad situation worse, in the midst of a hostage situation, Bellaire slips in the possible beginnings of a lovers rift in a really organic way. While Drusilla’s plan ain’t all that original, I think this is the first time that we actually see the Hellmouth come to life in this particular way, and since there are no budgetary constraints here, I expect the Hellmouth to be wide open for business going forward.

Overall, Bellaire and team do a great job setting up the multi-issue “Hellmouth” event. The characters are in place for where they need to be going forward.

Christopher Cantwell’s second foray into comic books doesn’t ease you into it; you’re catapulted into its chaos. His previous series which ended last month, She Could Fly, was about one girl’s mental illness and her desperate journey to be free of it. It was amazing, heart wrenching, surreal, absurd, and one of my favorite series of the last two years. Everything ups the ante.

Holland, Michigan (which upon looking up has a population of about 33,000) is the perfect example of middle America. Quaint and beautiful, in the middle of it all drops a supermarket called Everything. Throngs of people, in fact seemingly the entire population of Holland, have gathered for the grand opening. At the center of it is Shirley, a strange woman who is presented on the cover of the issue. She’s the store manager. She seems so pleased with the people at the threshold of her store that for anyone outside of the mania (the reader), it’s off-putting.

We’re introduced to several other characters of this quaint town: Lieutenant Dunbar (who seems to have gone through a traumatic experience and is now in a deep depression) sells property; Remo (a teenager with an abusive dad) has a job interview set up; Eberhard Friendly (the city manager) has an ant infestation in his modern-day mansion, and the for-now-nameless salesman at a stereo store. There’s very little connection between these characters, but it does set up a sort of Needful Things vibe. Each of these characters is looking for something… that Everything may provide.

Christopher Cantwell masterfully avoids all of the tropes of an expository first issue by relying on dreamlike visuals, quick dialogue exchanges, and a hefty dose of foreshadowing. I.N.J Culbards takes the reigns Cantwell gives him and, with his art and beautiful colors, holds the skeleton of the series together. The first issue is almost musical in its rhythms, which makes sense since a sort of musical element permeates the issue.

This is my kind of first issue. It may not be everyone’s, but based on She Could Fly, if Everything is even half as good, you’ll want to get in on the ground floor with me. Pick up the first issue, and then the second. Give it a shot.

David Pepose has a talent for combining the best aspects of nostalgic entertainment. His new series, Going to the Chapel, combines the action/adventure elements of Die Hard with that of a classic rom-com. Readers are introduced to the bride, Emily, who is unsure about her perfect soon-to-be beloved, and her rich family who are about to be robbed by a handsome stranger and his gang of Elvis-masked cohorts. And, there’s about to be a very big (and probably awesome) firefight with the sheriff.

Pepose’s previous Spencer and Locke series combined the amazing aspects of Sin City and Calvin and Hobbes while examining coping mechanisms birthed from tragedy, all while telling an exciting detective story. There’s something special about his ability to look at the heartwarming and nostalgic content we enjoy and twist them into something new and exciting. It’s the satirizing of beloved classics in a way that is both serious and silly that creates the wonderful stories we get to see, and Going to the Chapel is no different. The groundwork for what’s gong to happen is there in the nostalgia. We know there’s going to be a standoff with hostages much like Die Hard. We know that there will be a funny will-they-or-won’t-they scenario between Emily and that handsome stranger, and maybe even a love triangle involving those two and her fiancée.

The best way to read this issue is thinking of it like a prologue. I don’t doubt that this series will turn into a fantastic and bloody affair, and this issue is serving to set up the groundwork.

The dialogue is on point, the artwork is crisp and unique, and the cliffhanger at the end of the issue leaves you wanting more. Essentially, this is a teaser for something explosive, and I honestly cannot wait. Any comic book series written by Pepose is worth adding to your pull list.